I’m about to go to Bali, home to Gamelan, one of the
most interesting musical traditions in the world. Equal parts rhythmic
and melodic, amazing harmony and counterpoint, and an interesting
participatory music culture playing one-of-a-kind musical instrument
ensembles. I’m fortunate enough to have a friend who has
studied gamelan in Bali. Here's what Chris wrote me as on what I may
hear when I visit. (He also gave me a copy of A
House in Bali, a 1947 book about a Canadian musician who went to
Bali to study.)

Most all links to video or music files, give it a listen!

Style: Gamelan “Gong Kebyar”

This is the style that is most associated with Balinese
gamelan today. It’s a style that came into its own in the
early 1900s-1930s, evolving away from the slower Javanese-style
court gamelan that preceded it. A hallmark characteristic of this
virtuosic style is the “kotekan”, or interlocking
wherein different players each play one half of the melody at high
speed and it’s which are zippered together at high speed (example here). It
is also quite often accompanied by dance.

Jagra
Parwata: This is a virtuosic gong kebyar piece, one of my
favorites. I believe it won the All-Bali competition about ten years
ago. It’s also the first piece I ever learned to play on Gamelan
– a true “trial by fire”. Note the loose interpretation
of time; it changes tempos both languidly and abruptly. This is a classic
aspect of gong kebyar.

Taruna
Jaya: This is the most famous of the gong kebyar dance
pieces, created around 1950. For a Balinese female dancer, this is the
single most important piece and is used as a required dance to judge
the All-Bali competition. Taruna Jaya stands for “victorious
youth”, and is intended to convey the wide range of emotions
of an impetuous youthful princess. It is danced by a young girl who
(as it was described to me by my Balinese teachers) is pretending
to be a young man pretending to be a young girl. There’s a good
description here. Carefully controlled, intense eye and finger
movement are the hallmarks of this piece, and much of Balinese dance. The
dance requires so much energy that most Taruna Jaya dancers peak out at
around 15 years of age.

Style: Gamelan “Gender Wayang”

This is a ceremonial form of gamelan, used for religious ceremonies
(weddings, tooth filings, etc) and also puppet shows. As opposed to
gong kebyar, this style is played with either two or four players who
sit facing each other, each side playing one half of the melody in a
fashion similar to the gong kebyar kotekans.

Here’s
a video from someone playing at a local temple festival. Here’s another
video of someone practicing his half of the ankat ankatan melody
at about half speed; it gives you a good idea of how both hands work
together and how half of the melody sounds. This song is the first one
I learned on the gender wayang, because it’s pretty simple and
repetitive. It translates to “walking music” and is used
as filler during the parts of the puppet shows when the characters are
supposed to be “walking around on a long journey”.

Gending
Rebong: This is a song used during puppet shows when two
characters are expressing their love for each other.

Style: Balaganjur

This is a marching form of gamelan. You will see this in parades and
cremation ceremonies. It has all the elements of gong kebyar but is much
simpler and more repetitive and is easy enough that every villager learns
a couple belaganjur patterns so they can take part in ceremonies for
members of their village. In that sense it’s the form of gamelan
that most non-musician villagers take part in at least once or twice a
year.

The Belaganjur of group Jaya
Sakti: I don’t think this even has a formal name, but it’s
the most awesome belaganjur I’ve ever heard. I love how it starts
out incredibly simple and, simply through tempo change along, seems to
transform from something calm and relaxing into something violent and
exciting, and then back again. If this doesn’t make you want to
march, nothing will.